January 5, 2016: The district administration of Noida has convinced firms located in the city to phase out diesel cars and encourage their employees to use CNG vehicles or opt for carpooling.

Given growing concerns about air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), which gets affected badly every winter, senior district officials in Noida have been urging companies located in the IT hub to phase out thousands of diesel cars.

N.P. Singh, district magistrate, said besides asking companies to phase out diesel cars, he has also asked petrochemical units that use diesel to switch over to natural gas. IT companies operating in Noida control about 100,000 diesel cars. Phasing them out would help combat pollution in the NCR.

IT industry sources said officials were also in talks with taxi operators to phase out diesel cars by March 31.